Empire of Mali

Africa• Geography – Not very mountainous.

Mostly plateaus and deserts.• Although Mt. Kilimanjaro can have snow

all year round.• Tropical Rainforests along the equator.• Sahara Desert in the North.• Cultural Geography – People often speak

of 2 Africas.• North Africa and Sub-Saharan (or Black)

Africa

Sundjata

Mali Empire

• Sundiata was a powerful warrior-king that built the Mali Empire.

• An empire is large political unit or state, usually under a single leader, that controls many peoples or territories.

• Under the leadership of Sundiata, Mali was able to control many smaller kingdoms.

• These kingdoms would give slaves and money or supplies to Mali.

• Mali then kept a large army to keep all the kingdoms in line and protect all the trade routes.

• Mali controlled the gold trade and the salt trade.

• Mali made lots of money off taxes on the trade routes.

Artists’ rendition of Mansa Musa

Mansa Musa

• Mansa Musa was the most famous ruler of Mali.

• He was a great leader.

• He divided the empire into smaller parts each governed by a mayor.

• He is most famous for his hajj.

• The Hajj is the journey to Mecca that all Muslims are supposed to make.

Mansa Musa’s Hajj

• There were as many as 60,000 people, slaves, soldiers, etc. that accompanied Mansa Musa on his hajj.

• He is said to have brought thousands of pounds of gold with him.

• He gave away so much gold in Egypt, the price of gold dropped for years afterwards

• The effect of Mansa Musa’s hajj was to make everyone aware of the Mali Empire.

• He leaves such an impression of power that Mali is put on world maps.

• Also, he brought back Muslim architects and scholars to Mali.

• They built great buildings and a university that people would travel to from all over the world.

Mosque in Djenne, Mali